A True Incident

   I was reminded of this when the people penetrated The White House. It is a true story.

   Back in the 70’s, I was stationed at McClellan AFB in North Highlands CA.  Mr. Nixon was POTUS. 

   I went to work one day fat, dumb and happy.  I was taken aside by a supervisor and told to report to the wing conference room, reason unknown.  This sounded serious, and my buttocks clenched as I walked what felt like ‘the long green mile walk’. 

   Upon arrival, there were others milling around, and nobody knew what was up. Soon the doors opened and we filed in to take seats in some of the plushest seats you would ever encounter.  People of my rank (E-5 at the time), didn’t normally get the privilege of getting our buttocks soothed in such seats. These seats were for the highest ranking people on the base.

   Long story short – a fellow from Washington D.C. took the podium – he said people in this room had been selected to work in one of three different places, 1) The White House 2) Camp David 3) Key Biscayne.  There was one caveat.  You have to make up your mind today before you leave this room.  No phone calls out, no nothing. 

   I did ask one question of the fellow, which he did not see the humor in… I asked him if he was married.  In those da(ze) things were not as family oriented as they are today.  You were expected to make up your own mind. Ha ha. 

   So, if you said no to the opportunity, you could get up and leave, no questions asked.  They did say you would only ever get asked once in a career, and this was ‘YOUR’ opportunity to serve The President.  If, on the other hand, you wanted to think it over, you had one hour to go sign up for the next phase (an interview). 

   This was allot to think about… remember  the plush chairs now… they are integral to this story. 

   As a thoughtful man, I placed my hands behind my head, leaned back in that chair and promptly fell over on my ass in front of God and everyone else in that room. 

   While that is not the reason I turned this position down, the folks breaking security at The White House reminded me of this incident.  I have often wished, and or wondered about the missed opportunity, but… if you are married you know the rest. <grin>